Explanatory text Historical, geographical and social understanding
Learning in this area should include an appropriate balance of focused subject teaching and well- planned opportunities to use, apply and develop knowledge and skills across the whole curriculum.
Curriculum aims
This area of learning contributes to the achievement of the curriculum aims for all young people to become: successful learners who enjoy learning, make progress and achieve confident individuals who are able to live safe, healthy and fulfilling lives responsible citizens who make a positive contribution to society.
Why this area of learning is important
Historical, geographical and social understanding fires children’s curiosity and imagination about who we are, where we have come from, where we live and where we might be going next. It connects Britain’s past with the present and the future, helps children make sense of our place in the world and is central to their development as informed, active and responsible citizens.
This area of learning encourages children to investigate the world around them, from the local to the global. They learn about the impact of their actions on the planet and understand the importance of developing a future that is sustainable. Through exploring cultures, beliefs, values, human rights and responsibilities, children develop a deeper understanding of themselves and others, and a sense of belonging. They see how societies are organised and shaped by people's values and actions, and how communities can live and work together.
Children learn about diversity and interdependence, fairness, justice and democracy. They begin to understand how events that happened in Britain long ago or in other countries can affect our lives today and how our actions shape the future.
Historical, geographical and social understanding Page 1 of 7 Explanatory text
1. Essential knowledge
Children should build secure knowledge of the following: a. how the present has been shaped by the past, through developing a sense of chronology, exploring change and continuity over time, and understanding why and where things happened b. how and why places and environments develop, how they can be sustained and how they may change in the future c. how identities develop, what we have in common, what makes us different and how we organise ourselves and make decisions within communities d. how people, communities and places are connected and can be interdependent at a range of scales.
2. Key skills 1. This includes carrying out visits and fieldwork, These are the skills that children need to learn to make progress: creating and using maps at a range of scales (including using Ordnance Survey maps of the a. undertake investigations and enquiries, using various methods, media and sources1 local area), films and artefacts, and using digital b. compare, interpret and analyse different types of evidence from a range of sources information such as Geographical Information c. present and communicate findings in a range of ways and develop arguments and explanations Systems (GIS), local census and weather data, using appropriate specialist vocabulary and techniques databases and the internet d. consider, respond to and debate alternative viewpoints2 in order to take informed and responsible action. 2. This includes using ICT to consider viewpoints from people in locations beyond the neighbourhood, the UK or abroad
3 3. Further guidance and case studies to help 3. Cross-curricular studies teachers plan for cross-curricular studies are This area of learning should provide opportunities for: available on the National Curriculum website a. children to develop and apply their literacy, numeracy and ICT skills (curriculum.qcda.gov.uk) from early 2010 b. personal, emotional and social development c. enhancing children's historical, geographical and social understanding through making links to other areas of learning and to wider issues of interest and importance.
Historical, geographical and social understanding Page 2 of 7 Explanatory text
4. Breadth of learning a. When exploring local, national and global contexts children should: 1. learn about the ways people, communities, places and environments have changed over time, and how they are interconnected 4. Such as email, video conferencing, podcasting 2. develop and extend local and global links through communications and collaboration tools4. and school-linking b. Through the study of people and communities children should: 5. Including those in business, public and voluntary 1. find out about the main political and social institutions that affect their lives sectors 2. find out about issues and take action to improve things in their communities and make a positive contribution to society 6. Including maps, graphs, globes, atlases, GIS and 3. engage with different representatives from the community5 ICT, film, books and devices such as weather data 4. explore issues of justice, rights and responsibilities in their own contexts and the wider world. loggers c. In the study of place and space children should: 7. Including resource use and recycling 1. use fieldwork, first-hand experience and secondary sources6 to locate and investigate the geographical features of a range of places and environments, including their own locality, a 8. Such as documents, printed sources, pictures, contrasting area in the UK and a different locality in another country photographs, artefacts, databases and ICT-based 2. learn about and develop informed views and opinions on local, national and global issues sources including using data-handling software to such as sustainability7, climate change, economic inequality, and their impact on people, collate, analyse and present data places and environments in the past and the present. d. The study of the past should include aspects of local, British and world history. Children should: 1. study the past in outline and in depth, covering different societies and periods of history from ancient times to modern day 2. use dates and vocabulary related to the passing of time 3. place events, people and changes within a broad chronological framework 4. use a range of sources of information8 and visit historic buildings, museums, galleries and sites.
Historical, geographical and social understanding Page 3 of 7 5. Curriculum progression
The overall breadth of learning should be used when planning curriculum progression. Children should be taught:
EARLY9 MIDDLE LATER
Across the area of learning E1. to find out about the key human and M1. how identities, communities, places, L1. how societies have been organised and governed in physical features of their own cultures and traditions have changed different ways and at different times, including in the locality10, its location in the UK, and and are changing over time present24 how it has changed over time M2. to identify patterns in communities, L2. to distinguish between fact and opinion and make choices E2. to explore how people’s ways of life, places and past events by searching about sources of online information to find out about including their own, change with for and locating information using communities, locations, environments and events 11 location and time keywords, and carrying out searches, L3. to investigate and understand local, national and global 15 E3. about the links between their locality fieldwork and surveys issues, including by using ICT to analyse and process data25 and other places in the UK and beyond12 E4. to find out about the lives of Citizenship significant people and events from the past and the present13 M3. to understand how people can take L4. how rights need to be balanced to protect individuals and 26 E5. to investigate issues, express views actions and have a say in what communities from injustice 16 and take part in decision-making happens locally and nationally L5. to engage actively with democratic processes, and address activities to improve their immediate M4. to consider issues affecting issues of concern to them through their actions and environment or community14 communities, and reflect on the decision making27 E6. to use the internet and other digital impact of people’s actions on others L6. that communities and the people within them are diverse, 17 sources and simulations to find out and the environment changing and interconnected M5. about significant issues, events and to understand why laws are made and L7. to consider how people can live and work together to 18 people, and to explore distant and how they are applied justly benefit their communities contrasting places E7. the importance of rules and to recognise the difference between right and wrong and what is fair and unfair
Historical, geographical and social understanding Page 4 of 7 EARLY9 MIDDLE LATER
Geography M6. where significant places are located in L8. a range of geographical processes that cause change in the the UK, Europe and the wider world19 physical and human world in different places28 M7. to identify the similarities and L9. how human patterns are influenced by both human and differences between places and physical processes environments, and understand how L10. about the factors that affect weather and climate they are linked 20 L11. ways in which environments can be managed sustainably M8. to appreciate the relationship between and why this is important now and in the future the physical, built and economic and social environments M9. how different ways in which people live around the world sometimes have consequences for the environment and the lives of others from local to global scales
History M10. to explore the different ways we can L12. the characteristic features of, and changes within, two key find out about the past and how to periods of history that were significant to the locality and understand the evidence21 the UK29 M11. how significant events, developments L13. the effects of economic, technological and scientific or individuals and groups have developments on the UK and the wider world over time30 influenced their locality, the UK and L14. to understand the broad chronology of major events in the 22 beyond in the recent and distant past UK, and some key events in the wider world, from ancient M12. about the movement and settlement civilisations to the present day, and to locate within this of people in different periods of British the periods, events and changes they have studied history, and the impact these have had23
Historical, geographical and social understanding Page 5 of 7 Explanatory text
Early stage 9. Each area of learning should build on children's experiences and development in the Early Years Foundation Stage to ensure continuity of curriculum provision and their continuing progress 10. Examples of physical features include rivers, hills, valleys, volcanoes, coastlines; human features include roads, shops, buildings, villages and towns; community features include police, community leaders or the mayor 11. This includes changes to life at school, work, leisure and home and the social and cultural diversity of communities 12. These include physical communication, trade and movement of people or ideas 13. For example, people such as explorers, inventors and rulers, events that are commemorated, and other events that are significant to the children’s own lives 14. This involves working with others to explore issues of similarity and difference, right and wrong, fairness and rules, and making simple decisions within their group, class or school
Middle stage 15. Including using data-handling software to collate and analyse data 16. This includes learning simple features of democracy, and how decisions can be made through elections and voting, campaigning, debate and raising awareness of issues including the use of ICT to extend the reach of such activities 17. This includes learning about rights and needs humans have and how rules and laws can protect rights and the environment 18. This includes issues about right and wrong, why we need laws, the consequences of crime and antisocial behaviour for communities and the role of the police in protecting people 19. Significant places should be located which include the pupils' home locality, the countries and major cities that make up the UK, the EU, major countries and cities of the world, the major oceans, rivers and mountain ranges alongside the locations of key places that are studied in other relevant areas of the curriculum such as in literature, science and art 20. This includes a study of the physical and human geography of their own locality, a contrasting locality in the UK and a different locality in another country 21. This includes primary and secondary sources, artefacts, documents, photographs, film, accounts, including online sources – not all sources of evidence are as reliable as others and the past has been represented and interpreted in different ways 22. For example, the building of castles, the plague, industrialisation, or the work of a well-known local person and their effect on the local area and beyond 23. For example, the impact of the invasion and settlement by the Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Vikings, Normans or more recent immigration
Later stage
Historical, geographical and social understanding Page 6 of 7 24. This includes how different societies in the past were ruled, as well as key features of local and national government in the UK today. The study of the UK today could include what the local councillor or MP does to represent people and the role of the local council and parliament. Often this includes learning through practical participation, for example in the student council 25. Including weather, GIS and local census data 26. Examples of rights and responsibilities might include: at school, the right to learn and the responsibility not to disrupt other children from learning; in the neighbourhood, the right to be safe, including from discrimination, and the responsibility not to hurt others physically or emotionally 27. Democratic and responsible actions could be within the class, school or wider community and might include taking part in a debate on an issue affecting the community, voting in a class or school election, raising awareness about issues of concern and trying to improve the environment for others 28. Such as the impact and patterns of weather, erosion and deposition, migration, changes in the use of land, and social and economic changes, with particular reference to places of relevance to the school 29. As well as British history, one of the periods studied could be taken from European or world history 30. For example, the impact of changes in transport and technology in the last 200 years: the development and impact of roads, canals and railways in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; car manufacture and developments in aviation in the twentieth century; or the impact of changes in transport on the local area
Historical, geographical and social understanding Page 7 of 7